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I want to discuss Orthotics, sometimes called Arch Supports
I have been a little surprised that very few of my patients realized that I offer both "custom made" and "off the shelf" orthotics for a fraction of what some other offices charge.
The Dr Scholls gizmo at wal-mart looks great but its all marketing hype! They are selling you a $20 foot cushion for 40-50 bucks and comparing it to custom made orthotics - how crazy is that? Well truthfully you may have no reason to know the difference! Lets change that...
First if your arch drops it rotates your lower leg internally making your knee turn in a little and causing it to work at a "wrong angle", later this can be the cause of calf/knee/hip/lower back pain in addition to not having corrected the cause of the original foot pain you bought them for!
You have to actually lift and support the arch for orthotics to work, you can't just put a little cushion under it and expect it to get better. Sometimes people are able to correct their "arch issues" with a "generic" arch support, we refer to that as an "off the shelf" orthotic, I have a couple of awesome models depending on the shoes you wear everyday - They have a really supportive arch with a full length padded liner for your added comfort and are only $40.
Sometimes you need more, some people really need a custom made / custom casted orthotic. These often run 4 to 5 hundred dollars and are rarely covered by insurance, I cast them and another outfit makes them and they are only $199-249 rather than the 400+ other doctors charge.
I hope this helps you understand a little more about orthotics, later I will add more on the conditions of the foot that this can help or even eliminate for good... first and foremost is Plantar Fascitis! Plantar Fascitis is a condition that causes pain in the bottom of the foot thats worst when you get up in the morning and then usually gets somewhat better during the day and may then start hurting a lot as the day goes on. Also it will often hurt whenever you sit for a while then try to get up and walk. Late stages of Plantar Fascitis finally cause the bone spur people often think is the real problem or cause of the problem.
I use a fairly gentle method called "Graston type therapy" combined with a night splint and the Red Cold Laser to relieve the foot pain, (sometimes Acupuncture too) but the Orthotics (off the shelf or custom) are necessary to support the arch of the foot so that the "super tight" muscles on the bottom of the foot are not stretched so much, then they can heal and your foot won't hurt anymore! There is also a whole deal about the heel tilting that the Orthotics solves too but thats a lot to go into. It all sounds so simple but I don't know of another practitioner anywhere that combines these treatments together for a complete treatment plan.
Hope this helps you.
Sincerely,
Dr. Charles Dixon DC
